Innate Curiosity to Innovative Career: Emory Innovators with Zulna Heriscar

How does innate curiosity lead to an innovative career?

The Hatchery invited Zulna Heriscar to Emory Innovators to speak with us about curiosity, mentoring, and her career at Microsoft.  

Zulna is the Regional Channel Executive for North America Device Partner Solution Sales at Microsoft. Her experience at Microsoft over the past eighteen years includes working in Sales, Operations, Product Marketing and Professional Services- leading the envisioning of new opportunities and products with customers, helping customers move into a cloud first world, and engaging sellers to create the technical and business elements in their path to the cloud. Zulna is a goal-oriented leader with a natural inquisitiveness to see potential in business opportunities, problems to be solved and people to be connected. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Information Systems from Florida A&M University, Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Florida Atlantic University, and an MBA from Emory University. In 2020, Zulna was named to the 40 Under 40 list by the Puget Sound Business Journal and Emory Alumni Association.

Zulna came to Emory mid-career to start her MBA armed with ample curiosity to learn more about business, strategy, and innovation to apply these concepts to her twelve-year career at Microsoft. She talked about how she had to learn how to manager her life and studies like a project at work, balancing each part to get the outcome she desired.

Curiosity led Zulna to Microsoft. She started out at college planning to be a lawyer when a mentor challenged her to research and understand the intersections between tech and political science. She spent hours at the library pouring over research on the Microsoft and Apple case and other related cases. She changed her major to computer science and later met a Microsoft representative at a career fair. Zulna brought up all the issues she had researched. Her passion for learning about Microsoft opened the door to start her career at the company.

Zulna elaborated on how curiosity has kept her on the cutting edge in her career. “I realized that the world is going to continue to evolve and what I can do is figure out how I can set the pace…be a visionary to that innovation. It’s what’s helped me to be successful in this space.”

Mentorship has been key to Zulna’s life and career. As a first-generation college grad and corporate employee in the US, Zulna said she looked around and no one was really on her path. She sought out mentors every step of the way, from the professor in college who changed to career trajectory, to Brené Brown and Ron Clark, whose books she turns to for wisdom when leading her team. Zulna pays it forward as a Big Brother Big Sister mentor, coaching colleagues at Microsoft, and giving back at every opportunity.  She also started consulting with small businesses in Atlanta, helping them to grow and sustain their businesses and to market to their target customers.

To hear more from Zulna Heriscar, you can watch or listen to the conversation. To stay up to date on everything happening at The Hatchery, you can subscribe to our newsletter.